Today’s Yahrtzeits & History – 4 Tammuz

Rav Yaakov ben Meir (Rabbeinu Tam). The most famous of Rav Meir ben Shmuel’s sons, one of Rashi’s grandsons. He studied under his father and his older brother, Shmuel (the Rashbam), who was 15 years

his senior. His other older brother Yitzchak (Rivam) was 10 years older than Rav Yaakov. Born in Ramerupt, Reb Yaakov was only 5 (or 9, according to others) when Rashi was niftar, and thus was not zocheh to learn with him. He succeeded his father as Rosh Yeshiva in the Ramerupt. He was quite wealthy as a wine merchant and financier. On the 2nd day of Shavuos of 1146, Crusaders entered and pillaged the city of Ramerupt, taking all of his possessions and inflicting five knife wounds in his head. He was saved by a nobleman, who promised the mob that he would convert the rabbi. After this incident, Rabbeinu Tam moved to Troyes and opened a teshiva. On 20 Sivan,1771, the Jews of Blois, France were subject to a blood libel, the first in Jewish history. And 32 Jews were killed. Rabbeinu Tam established that day as a fast day. Some of Rabbeinu Tam’s responsa are collected in Sefer Hayashar. (1100-1171)

Rav Yaakov Reinman, Rav of Narol, a town in western Galicia (1778-1814). A disciple of Rav Shlomo of Skohl and Rav Menachem Mendel of Rimanov. He was succeeded by his son, Rav Avraham Reinman (1796-1841).

Rav Mordechai Shakovitzky, Rav in Leeds (England), Rosh Kollel in Johannesburg where he was one of the founders of the South African Kiruv Movement, and later Rosh Yeshivas Pischei Teshuva Yerushalayim. He was the son of Rav Naftali Hakohein Shakovitzky, the Gateshead Rav before Rav Mordechai Miller, and son-in-law of Rav Zalman Yosef Aloni Dubow (Rav and Av Beis Din of Dublin, Ireland). (1998)

Today in History – 4 Tammuz

· 24 wagonloads of sifrei kodesh were burned by the church in France, 1242.
· Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg was imprisoned and 40 Jews killed on charges of ritual murder, 1286.
· Chumash with Ramban first published in 1490.
· 1000 Jews of Tulchin (Tulczyn), Poland, along with local Poles, were tortured and massacred by Cossacks, 1648. . An agreement between the 2,000 Jews and 600 Christians of Tulczyn to defend their town at all costs succeeded in preventing the Cossacks from capturing it. Kryvonos, the Cossack leader, contacted the local governor and offered to leave the Poles alone if he handed over the Jews. The Jews found out about the plan and only through the intervention of their leader Rabbi Aharon (who feared reprisals) persuaded them not to kill the local leaders. Instead, Rabbi Aharon convinced the governor to take a high ransom and give it to the Cossacks. Kryvonos accepted the ransom, entered the town, killed most of the Jews and then killed the Poles for betraying the Jews.
· The Jewish quarter in Prague was destroyed by French troops who shelled the area, 1689. In one shul the roof caved in, killing the 100 people who had sought refuge there. Most of the population was taken in by their Christian neighbors until new shelters were built.
· Numerous Jews were killed in a pogrom at Jassy, Romania, 1941. At the outbreak of the war, Jassy had a population of slightly over 100,000 inhabitants, approximately 50,000 of whom were Jews. On the morning of 29 June, 1941, thousands of Jews were herded into the courtyard of the Jassy police headquarters. At about 2:00 p.m., the German and Romanian soldiers began to fire directly into the crowds. The massacre continued intermittently until 6:00 p.m. Four trucks and 24 carts transported the corpses; it took two whole days to move them. Approximately 2,500 Jews survived the massacre in the police headquarters courtyard. Two death trains left Jassy between 3:30 and 4:15 a.m. on Monday, June 30, 1941. The first one consisted of from 33 to 38 sealed freight cars and contained between 2,430 and 2,530 Jews. The Skverer Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Yosef, was miraculously saved.
· Nazis murdered the male Jews of Drobian, Lithuania, 1941.
· Yerushalayim bombed for the first time in its history, 1948.

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